Star Fall
by Caexah
Summary: The team went each their own way after Edolas, giving Lucy a chance to find her own way as a mage stand on her own two feet. And stood she did. One-shoot-ish


Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Or any manga for that matter.

AN: This is likely not going to be worked on anymore, so consider this one a teaser of my mind. I picked it up from my abandoned fic collection. Sorry, but I just can't get Earthen steel to flow anymore. :(

All the epic scenes… the golem of the earth mages, the summoning, the war, the politics, void magic, Zelretch's Jewel Sword, the ninja clan, the twists and turns. The results of those events… D;

It is of course up for adoption if anyone want it. Together with all my other fics, including this one.

Then without further talk, My take on an abandoned Lucy. Without the angst and revenge. May have a bit too much OP Lucy.

Again without a beta, I'm too impatient to seek one out. Warning, Gamma.

()()()()()()() () ()()()()()()()

Lucy Heartfilia knew that to Natsu she was not a member of his team because that she was useful or had any remarkable combat ability. She was a member because he found her interesting. That was why she could find him invade her apartment and him asking her for her help on missions. Not because he needed her.

With the return of his childhood friend Lisanna she was suddenly not as interesting as she was before, and his childlike attention shifted from Lucy to Lisanna. Dragging her on missions and generally being around her. Behaving overprotective in his own 'easily detracted and getting into fights with Gray' way.

Lucy could understand that. She long knew Natsu acted like a child in most things outside fighting.

That didn't mean that the attention she used to get from Natsu wasn't missed, as she did miss him and his ways. Somehow Natsu had become sort of mix between older and younger brother in the way that Natsu was clearly stronger than her and also dragged her into all sorts dangerous of messes, but being so incredible stupid and childlike.

They was still friends, but they didn't seek each other out as much. They greeted each other in the guild hall, and such things. But Natsu didn't invade her home anymore, he didn't drag her with him on missions out of the blue.

That kind of thing she found irritating before was now an occurrence she missed happening.

Until that point she didn't know how much she had relied upon Natsu to act as a shield for her in the life as a contract mage. What didn't look as scary with Natsu at her side looked scary now.

She wasn't strong compared to Natsu, Gray or Erza. She knew that. In fact she knew and acknowledged in the back of her head the whole time that she was far from their level. And ashamed as she was to admit it, she knew without her Celestial Keys she was useless.

It had happened more than once that her keys hand be taken from her or the sprites themselves was useless because the opponent possessed some kind of counter to her magic.

But still even then she felt proud of herself for the feats she done while being in Fairy Tail.

Don't be mistaken. She was weaker than the rest of her team by several magnitudes, and it was because she was so much weaker she felt proud of herself. It wasn't easy to keep of with people like Erza, Gray and Natsu at the best of times and no ordinary person could do. Then she, Lucy Heartfilla, a runaway from a rich life come and did it. Granted at times she didn't keep up well, but she did do it.

She had no combat experience beyond what she teach herself in empty rooms at the manor she lived, carefully keeping out of sight of her Father and the servants. She had no one to teach her how to fight, or even train her body to best become stronger. She had a strict diet that didn't allow for muscle growth. She couldn't even learn more magic in her time there since Father disapproved and removed any and all magic tomes so she couldn't learn any.

All she had was the magic her Mother had teach her before she passed away, and since Lucy was rather young at the time she didn't learn much. Merely how to open a gate.

Her physical ability was slim, her magic very limited and depend on others interest in helping her than her doing anything for herself, and her combat experience was next to zero when she meet Natsu the first time.

Even with all that limiting her Lucy was still was able to keep up with her much more powerful and experienced teammates. And she was damn proud of that, for when all was said and done she did as very good job.

But now she had to stand on her own legs, and see if they would carry her, and that was why she was standing at the job board to look over the requests. She was proud, but her insecurities rared it's ugly head.

She wondered at each request reading what they entailed, if something happen will I be strong enough to take care of it myself?

Never before in her time at Fairy tail had she faced the request board alone. It had always been Natsu that had taken a job near randomly off it without a care, or it had been Erza that had dragged the 'team' of too do something dangerous.

With Natsu new tendency to just drag Lisanna on a job randomly without informing his team Erza had decided it was time for the team to disband and go their own ways, at last for a time. It just didn't feel right for Erza, Lucy and Gray to take a job together without taking Natsu with them. They was a team, and though they may have disbanded they still had the close bonds that connected them closer than mere friendship. They were comrades, brothers and sisters in arms.

Lucy may be a bit hurt emotionally but she wasn't even angry at Natsu for running off like that, he was after all Natsu and such stuff was more or less expected of him. She accepted and moved on, she knew how and when to give space. Her sprites wasn't exactly normal, but she loved and accepted their quirks just the same. So she decided to give space and feel joy at the happiness the guild was experiencing at the return of a lost family member, and be glad for Natsu that he got his childhood friend back.

Erza was angry however at Natsu, she likely felt the bonds of her team stronger than most. Gray was very annoyed, he too had formed strong bonds to this team. Diliora and Heaven's tower tied them closer emotionally to the group that knew and accepted their painful past. And forgave them for the sins they felt they done. Erza with leaving her friends behind to save them, and Gray for getting his teacher killed protecting him when he tried get revenge on his parents murderer.

So Erza went to do her usual knightly duty and go slay a monster or fifty. Gray also went on missions alone, however unlike Erza monster hunting his was much more varied types. Lucy did her best to cheer them up, and she felt she helped at bit, but they needed some time alone to figure out their anger at Natsu. And so Lucy was left alone, with her own assurance she would be okay and be able to pay rent.

Still she felt alone in the guild when Natsu, Gray and Erza wasn't there. She had also bond strongly to her team and without them felt just an unsure about how to approach her guild mates. She had vastly superior social skills compared to Natsu and Erza, but she still grew up isolated and without friends.

She wasn't blocked out or outright ignored by her guild mates. It was just now that she wasn't a part of their favorite team or the new member she was not as interesting anymore. Moreover she wasn't a loud child compared to many others in the guild, and she had no unusual skills or outstanding personality. She become a visual wallflower. A pretty wallflower sure, but just another plant nonetheless.

Lucy didn't yell at them for their disinterest, or cry at home. She was a resilient girl. However that didn't mean it didn't hurt to be alone once again. It reminded her a bit of her home-life after her mother died and father become even more distant than he already had been.

She had some friends beyond Natsu, Gray and Erza, but they was in a team for themselves and she didn't know them well enough to ask them to take a job with her. Besides her pride wouldn't allow it. To beg for company. She was stronger than that.

So with the ugly feeling of weakness and vulnerability she for the first time since trying to learn her mother's magic sought to honestly improve herself, learn to protect herself and to prove she was more than the wallflower the guild apparently viewed her as.

But how to go around doing it?

She wasn't sure, so she sought help from the two things she rely upon the most. Her sprites and her books.

Her sprites was good conversation and sparing partners in the week she had decided to train herself before taking a job. Pushing her, but not drive her into the ground. Though the way they easily defeated her was yet another blow to her self-esteem.

Still it felt nice talking to her sprites without summoning them to help her in something, like they was tools. She felt really bad for that and had sincerely asked for forgiveness for it from each of them.

They had easily forgiven her. They didn't think she viewed them as tools at all, and had always expressed her gratitude for their help each time. For them there was nothing to forgive. They may not see themselves as tools to be used, but they did have a purpose and it made them happy to fulfill that role. In that regard Lucy has been the perfect summoner.

Still she sat down with each of her summons to just talk with them. About their and her goals, about herself and themselves. Just getting to know them better.

She was even able to hold a conversation about her mother with Aquarius, that usually bully her when summoned. It was a nice talk, one she had didn't know she had needed but now couldn't imagine living without. Their relationship was still full of the mermaid bulling Lucy for her lack of boyfriend, but they was closer now, more tolerant of each other. At the end of that piticilur talk Aquarius had requested in a quit manner very unlike the attitude Lucy was used to dealing with, that she was to be summoned Only if absolute life-threatening necessary. Lucy accepted her request with a sad, but understanding smile. A smile Aquarius returned as she faded away into the sprite world, though not without taunting her about her lack of boyfriend, again.

However despite their new closeness the sprites can't just teach their magic like that. They could teach a small amount, the bare basics really. Just because she had their keys didn't mean she could instantly learn their magic. They wasn't human, and thus their magic was different than what normal humans use. Besides she had no elemental alinement, which while wouldn't make learning impossible would make it hard to learn.

However most of them was skillful hand to hand combatants. So while Lucy researched magic in the library, which she paid a monthly cost to be a member of, they trained her in what she found. Taurus attempted to teach her how to handle a battle ax, but sadly she didn't have the muscle strength to use one.

Which lead to her learning by Leo how to enhance her strength magically. It was something Leo had been using as a human. Again she was only able to get the bare basic at such a short time, able to use with huge amount of concentration with very little results.

Lucy was grateful for it however, having often seen other mages perform superhuman physical facts and had wondered how that was possible. Erza in particular. Those armors and swords looked far too heavy to run around in, even less at that speed she did. She haven't thought it was magic at the time, which she now felt was rather silly of her.

Still being able use the basic after such a short time learning still spoke tales of how much talent Lucy had as a mage.

The week was filled with training, researching and talking. Learning just a little more each day. She went to bed exhausted each day and slept like a rock until morning where she dragged her sore self out of bed.

Still she felt much more at ease with herself, even with her body hurting. She felt fulfilled and spent in the good way. She could feel she was getting stronger. Felling like she was getting somewhere. Something that made her more mellow as a person. She had friends loyal and at her call, she honestly couldn't help but feel warm inside at that thought. She never enjoyed reading a book in the late evening as she did now and she didn't freak out as much over random things.

Aquarius had commented she was behaving more like her mother now in their talk.

But than again, maybe she was just too tired to freak out and had subconsciously decided it wasn't worth the energy spent.

Her research was going well. She wasn't learning much the way of spells, but rather decided to look into magic theory instead. Trying to find her own way. Not to say she didn't pick up spell books she thought would be useful to learn. She was also attempting to learn Urano Metria harder than she had been before.

Lucy has attempted to learn the powerful spell in her spare time since getting the spell from Hibiki Lates, this time in the form of a small book he had copied the information into and sent to her with the post, but unlike before she was more determined to learn now. However it is a hard spell to learn and understand. Using theoretical concepts she had a hard time to warp her head around, much less convert her magic into. Then there was the control and spell itself that seem unlike anything she seen before.

No wonder she had went into a trance to cast it the first time. She was slowly making progress, and thought maybe she would be able to cast it if she was desperate. Likely not as powerful as the full version, something like using small embers instead of full blown flames. However her attempt may also result in nothing more than wasted magic power.

Still with the week spent and her need for money grew she was now standing in front of the Job Board, having all the insecurities coming back to hunt her. She was an intelligent person, and knew even with her week of training people like Natsu and Erza was still far out of her lounge. It was that overwhelming difference in strength that worried her.

Was she still weak?

There was so many different jobs. She had been having trouble finding one that suited her, one she could be sure that she couldn't fail. One which could prove to herself she had improved. That she wasn't a wall flower. Just another faceless person.

In the end she did a very Natsu thing, swallowed her all fear and just took a random job.

Well if Natsu had fear to shallow that is, as it was Lucy doubted the Dragon slayer had such an emotion as fear.

The Job was a simple protection duty. It was a caravan that had to travel through woods that recently had been showing sign of dangerous animal or monster activity. Nothing seriously dangerous, they hoped. Nothing had been attacked outside of the woods, and since the howls started sounding at night nobody was wandered in to check what kind of monster it was.

However judging from the location it is merely wolfs migrated further from the north.

She got the Job approved by Mirajane at the bar, which happened without incident and with a bit of small talk. Without further ado Lucy boarded the train to where the caravan would arrive in a few days.

The caravan wasn't waiting for her since they was smart enough to keep track of the roads they would travel ahead of time, and as soon they heard the road was dangerous they sent ahead a job request before they got there.

So Lucy sat in the train alone for the first time in awhile and couldn't quite keep the feeling of lonesomeness while remembering traveling with Natsu, Gray and Erza. It invoke a feeling of nostalgia and wistfulness. There was too much space.

At the moment Erza was on her own job again. The same with Gray. Natsu was also on a job, however instead of taking her with him on it he had dragged Lisanne off with him to parts unknown.

Lucy may feel it was a bit cruel of Natsu to just throw her away like that, but she also knew that Natsu was in many ways still a child with a child's attention spawn. It's wasn't like he was purposely trying to be cruel, kicked her off or in anyway told her she was weak. It was just in the nature of a child to only pay interest to the thing that most capture it attention with a single minded focus that shot most other things out.

She didn't blame him, though it did hurt. She was genuinely happy for them, it wasn't just any day someone dear to someone thought dead come back to life. Lucy may have wished to blame them, if only to replace the hurt with something else, but she was a kind person that honestly couldn't bring herself to attempt to dislike her comrades. Natsu's childishness however killed any romantic feelings she may have had for the dragon slayer, you couldn't love a child as you would your husband after all.

Even with the guild's attitude she could bring herself to dislike them. Not after what their done for her in the past with her father and Phantom Lord. She could even admit it was her own fault that they looked at her like she was a wallflower. She didn't like to fight in the guild hall, she didn't have a comically short temper, she wasn't loud and boisterous. She had a bit of trouble working up her nerve to seek out new people for the sake of making friends.

With a sigh Lucy pushed the thought of Erza casually knocking Natsu out with an armored fist in favor of pulling out a book. Her hand touched her Keys which felt warm to her fingers, which smelted the cold core inside her. They may not be human but they was her friends.

What more did she need?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon she arrived in the town near the forest she began to gatherer intel about the forest and what lived in it. After digging a little she found out this kind of thing had happened before, it was animals and lower class monsters running from a strong demon in the north.

The demon was a strange one, it sleep 50 years at a time before waking up where it actively hunts and eat for a whole week without rest before hiding itself again to sleep for another 50 years. As soon the demon become active the wildlife flee away from the area as fast they can.

Lucy was happy for that as she wasn't sure she could handle a demon, and a bit nervous as the forest would be filled with an over population of monsters and animals. She summoned Loke to scout out the forest itself to check it condition.

He had reported back that he found nothing one of her sprites wouldn't be able to handle.

So with a day or so with nothing since there was no library or magic shop in this small town she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to train and use up her magical power or do anything staining in case she needed her best tomorrow.

Somehow she ended up with the elder man that told her about the demon talking legends and history. Something that haven't really interested her before. Still with nothing to do even the boring seem interesting.

Though admittedly this old man had talent as a speaker, totally unlike her old teacher from her childhood who was as boring as they come. They also talked philosophy, which Lucy had trouble understanding.

The old man, Henry was his name, helped her a lot with the philosophic concepts she had to understand to use the Urano Metria. As a philosophy lover Henry was happy to help this mage girl understand.

Not just to know the philosophy, but to _understand_ it.

Metaphysics theories isn't something easily understood after all and can often turn your head upside down. And even if you understand it it, it can be hard to accept.

Lucy went to bed with heavy thoughts that night, her world view twisting. There was more between heaven and earth then could be seen or understood. Not to talk about the space beyond the heavens.

The Job began the next day around noon, and would last around three days as it was a big area the forest was spread over.

Surprisingly the trip went without problem. Sure there was lots of attempts to attack by weak monsters and animals, but like Leo said, there was nothing her Celestial sprites couldn't handle, much less since she could summon more than one at the same time. Lucy can summon two at a time.

However multiply summons tore heavily on her magical power, so she only used it when the caravan was attacked from more than one side at a time. They didn't even have to stop to wait for her to deal with the monsters as she could do that while the caravan moving, which resulted in no lost time.

Due to her performance she got a small bonus pay because of a job well done.

Absolutely nothing went wrong, and she didn't have to attempt to use Urano Metria like she feared, or even some of her hasty learned magic. It was weird being on a job where nothing went wrong on. It never happened before, but then again her previous jobs was with a certain destructive Flame dragon slayer. She couldn't help but think this was because Natsu wasn't here to burn down the forest or otherwise make a mess out of all things.

Lucy went home with a job well done, a self earned accomplishment and a felling of self worth.

Something that she had sorely needed.

She continued training harshly, seeking to improve her magical power. Something that surprising she enjoyed. Not the fighting, but the self improvement.

The first spell she added to her arsenal was 'Barrier' a normal one direction, non-element shield spell. Nothing outstanding, but a huge improvement for her own security when her sprites are busy fighting multiply enemies.

With it she would also be able to block attacks on her sprites that they couldn't see or react to. In fact she was enamored by the barrier spell, and practiced it religiously. Which was with her large amount of magical power was a lot of times doing a day.

A magical power she was first now begun to take advantage of. She had a _lot_ of magic, but never used it properly. She absolutely no control of her magic, and wasted an unnecessary huge amount in her summonings. So she set out to fix it. Her silver key Crux was very helpful in that regard as he was able to tell her how to summon properly and describe how the previous summoners learned to use their magic.

It continued that way with her training, reading, writing on her own novel, studying philosophy and legends. And doing harder and harder missions.

However Lucy as her feeling of accomplishment grew, so did her self worth. Until she believed herself worth more than she was. Or in other words, she become arrogant.

That arrogance reared it's ugly head when she was passed over for an elder gentleman she believed herself better than. In anger over being passed over of the thin smartly dressed gentleman that didn't look like he could knock out a fly even if he wanted to she challenged the man to a duel.

All she got was a humiliating one sided defeat at the hands of the talented earth mage. Afterward the man went through a list of all her failures in their brief fight. And that was a huge list that left her feeling quite ashamed of herself. She was left in an earth bind without the ability to move as he went over it in painful detail for hours.

She was near tears at the end of it.

And the battle was no longer than mere seconds. As soon as the battle had begun she had pulled out her celestial keys to summon, the man without moving made a bunted earth spike to erupt from the ground that hit her hand which made her let go of the key reflexively. Another earth spike simultaneously tore the remaining keys away, tearing up her clothes at the same time.

The man wasn't a pervert that ruined her clothes because he wanted a peek, but because her key ring was tied to her clothes.

Afterward she sunk down into the ground until only her head was above ground. the man sat down in front of her and began to go over the list of things she could have done better. But mainly he went over her attitude as her biggest failure. Vanity in particular. He also mocked her way of approximating an enemy, him in this case, in arrogance. He also mocked her fancy dress and lack of pants. Then there was his rant of her lack of tactical mind, or any mind, behind that pretty face.

She was enraged, embarrassed and sufficiently chastised at the end of it all, but above all she carried a feeling of humiliating defeat that left her with a burning desire to make sure that wouldn't happen again.

After the tirade of insults and a list of things not to do again the elderly gentle man praised the two half formed Barrier spells that his earth spike penetrated to strike her arm and keyring, duel casting was a hard thing to learn and much less use in a fight. Even some of the stronger mages has trouble with such things. To use dual casting as a reflex spoke of talent.

Talent he didn't want her attitude to ruin.

After freeing her the elder man left without a word to do the job he was contracted to do.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later at home Lucy decided to undergo a complete make over, from the way she dressed to the way she acted. And to re-haul her training. This time hopefully without getting a fat head.

Her dresses went from fancy clothes and skirt to affordable comfy shirt and baggy pants. Clothes easy to move around in and easy to effort to replace when torn. She pulled her hair up in a pony tail for simplicity and to get it out of the way. Those in the guild that noticed it complimented the change. Simple clothing could enhance the beauty of an extraordinaire woman in ways that not many knew. Something Mirajane noted, much to Lucy's embarrassment and joy at the time.

Lucy's attitude however wasn't as easy to change even as her arrogance had been beaten out of her. It had to be a gradual change. Something that had to be worked hard on. Reminding herself to be calm. Becoming more passive and observant.

It was funny that now that she was actively trying to fade into the background her simple dress and distinguished beauty made her stand out more than when she dressed in her dresses. It was the contrast between clothes and girl that made her stand out. Something Lucy didn't even notice. MiraJane questioned her about it, but Lucy being embarrassed at her defeat didn't tell.

After first time casting Urano Metria successfully she was unconscious in two full days because of the exhaustion, but was rarely seen without a small smile in a month on her lips since.

As her training progressed she began to take harder and harder jobs as a result. Something that worried some of her guild members, but she was able to complete them. Some with unmentionable incidents and major messes, but none was marked a failure. She was lucky she was able to keep her name out of the press though.

At this point her spell list had grown at bit since the humiliating fight she had.

She had learned basic transformation magic, which went well with her new neutral colored and styled clothes. Made her able to hide in anonymity easily in a crow. She wasn't able to transform her clothes as that was a more advanced aspect of the magic, one she worked on but knew it would take a long time to get it.

There was also the sleep spell, one that had been used upon her by Mirajane Strauss before.

Dispel was one of the harder on she learned, but it was worth it as the missions that request a cursed harmful magical item or place cleansed was not low in amount and could pay quite a lot.

With those spells she was able to take some of the more quiet missions that required finesse and discretion.

However the main thing that she had worked hard on was something of her own design, one she had set out to create since being captured with earth bind those months ago. Something born from being captured, bound and helpless, and hating it. Utilizing her knowledge of summoning of celestial sprites from another realm and Urano Metria that pulls power over time/space from the 88 physical star constellations that materialize that power in an accurate mini recreation of their systems in the form as spheres of power.

She took that magic and turned it around, so instead of pulling something into this world she pulled part of herself out of it. What she chose was her physical ability to touch things, or for things to touch her. Lucy had thought it would have been the ultimate shield spell that would stop things physically before they could reach her, but she was very wrong on that front.

The universe tend to be very specific and when something is not touched then it means that it can not be touched. And for something not be be touched then it was better that it wasn't there. Lucy become _Intangible_. Making objects pass through her instead of stopping them in their tracks.

Luckily for Lucy's health she was also relatively untouched by gravity and she didn't sink down into the burning core of the planet of Earthland. Also she was lucky not to having deleted herself from existence with that stunt. Something her sprites was quite upset about, and something she haven't realized could happened before said worried sprites yelled it in her face after she showed the spell to them the first time.

The spell took considerable amount of magic continuously for being active and it left quite a stain on Lucy to have it active for more than a few minutes. But she knew with repeated use the cost would go down as she hammered out the knacks of the spell.

But even with the costs and risks to space/time summoning spells Lucy knew she stuck gold and found a path to be one of the greatest mages on Earthland. Every S-class mage had 'something' that set them apart from others, this may just be hers.

Still now she had to learn how to fly. She can't touch the ground after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It been over half a year since Lucy last seen Natsu, Lisanna, Gray and Erza, they always seem to miss each other in the guild hall. While one is on a job the other is there, and when one come home the other is out on a job.

Even with the busy life they had it was quite unusual.

Granted it may be mostly her own fault since a little after she began to take solo jobs she found the freedom of traveling quite enjoyable, and often took jobs far away and in places she haven't seen before. It gave her time to go sight seeing and experience new things such as food and cultures. So the time she spent away from the guild was a whole lot. She didn't regret it however, as she meet lots of interesting people and seen lots of interesting things.

She missed them a lot though, Natsu, Gray and Erza. Listening and asking around the guild when she was there she hear they are doing fine for themselves. None of them had joined another team or had been injured enough for it have shown when they have returned.

Now Lucy had sent in her novel to see if it was worthy of being printed and sold, and while waiting for answer had decided that for the first time in a long time she would spend a day in the guild hall relaxing and watching the others goof around.

Sitting in a corner where the usual Thursday bawl wouldn't reach Lucy was reading a romantic drama novel about a demon with a conscience falling mutually in love with a noble lady whose father is the leader of a demon hunter order.

It was story of subterfuge and lies as the demon attempt at at appearing as a human noble and get married with the one he love as the lady's father repeatedly attempt to uncover the demon he knows reside in his city.

Of coarse eventually he gets uncovered and story about the noble lady and the demon is now about fleeing and hiding while in love with a beautiful and very distinct woman, that in the classic noble way do not know how to blend in with the commoners. That and for some reason many demons find the nobel very interesting in the form as a meal. Attacked from all sides and always in the danger of betrayal they attempt find a place to settle down in peace, something the world seem determined not to allow to happen.

The writer was able to descriptive the love, despair and all the other emotions in haunting details that made the reader feel echos of their existence inside themselves. The situations was beautifully painted with words, no matter how horrifying the picture.

It wasn't Lucy's own novel that she had written, but she hoped some day she would be able to write as good at the one who wrote this one. It was really high quality.

However with a sigh she placed down the novel in order to better observe Mirajane casting a longing glance at the Job board after another Fairy tail mage got a job approved by her for himself. Lucy deduced that the woman missed her active days that she quit after Lisanna 'died', now that Lisanna was back the guilt that chained her to the bar and away from jobs had faded. However now that she had the desire she still found herself bound by her sense of duty to her guild.

Even two months ago Lucy would not have been able to spot that as Mirajane hides it quite well. However with Lucy's new calm mind she could now fully put the lessons her father made her do to use, amongst those lessons was higher math, manners, law and how to read people. Now that she was willing to put everything she had to use, including what her father's hired teachers had made her learn she had reached a point where she could read emotions quite well.

After yet another longing glance hidden behind a cheerful smile Lucy let out another sigh. She just couldn't let this go.

Emptying her glass of juice she packed away the novel and went over and picked up a job before sitting at the bar, awaiting Mirejane's attention as soon she was done serving ale to a group of not quite that old mages telling tales of their younger days. It was a specific job Lucy had taken, one that she honestly wasn't sure she could do on her own. She had debated with herself for some time if she was ready for it, but attempting to know her own limits is quite hard to do precisely without have pride come in.

However on a job like this screwing up could mean death, and not a humiliating educating defeat. It was a A-rank request after all. Only one rank under S class missions.

"Mirajane" Lucy greeted with a smile as she pushed the paper with the job on forward in a silent gesture to tell what she wanted.

"Lucy" Mirajane greeted cheerfully back, picking up the job to look at it. As she read she gave a gentle frown, casting a worried glance at the smiling Lucy. "This a quite the difficult one... While the Jewels are high the risk is also considerable."

"Yes" Agreed Lucy easily before giving the bar girl a hopeful glance "But it feel that I may be ready for this kind of job, I improved a lot the last year. Though quite honestly I would be happy if a guild member would travel with me to make sure I can handle it, just for safety's sake. You wouldn't happen to know anyone that are strong enough that are free?"

Lucy looked Mirajane in the eyes, making the S-ranked Take-over magic user know who Lucy was asking while still giving her a way out due to it being an unvoiced request with no names "One strong enough to rival Erza maybe?"

"Ara?" Uttered Mirajane surprised, unconsciously deflecting a thrown chair that had appeared from the pile of fighting people. The bar woman blinked again in surprise as she looked at her hand that had smacked the chair aside. Normally she would let herself get hit, but this time she couldn't control her reactions like usual.

Like it or not her body was reacting to her desire to get back into the field by awakening half forgotten fighting instincts.

Lucy smirked at her, a knowing glint in her eyes that made Mirajane huff and lower her hand.

"I would love to come but I have a bar to take care of, I can't just leave that unattended." Mirajane said puffing her cheeks out adorably in childish anger.

Lucy reached out with an even bigger smirk and poked an inflated cheek "If I have a solution for that would you like to come with me?"

The Bar girl glared at her. More than one guild member was following the conversation closely with amusement.

"Maybe" Muttered Mirajane, somehow enjoying being teased in such a manner.

"Than that is agreed" Agreed Lucy to the 'almost' deal. With a flick of her wrist a golden key appeared from her sleeve in a flash. She inserted the key into the air before her before turning it like unlocking a door.

"Open the Gate of The Maiden" She declared as a flash of light appeared where after Virgo could be seen behind the bar in her usual maid outfit and shackles.

"My orders, my prince?" Asked Virgo as she bowed in subservience.

"Mirajana and i has a job coming up and we were wonders if you wanted to take over the bar for some time?"

Vergo bowed again "It is my greatest pressure to help you in any capacity I am able."

Lucy reached out and lifted Vergo's chin upward so they could look into each others eyes. Lucy couldn't help but smile softly as she glanced into the intense blue eyes of the Maiden. They was really beautiful.

"Vergo, Remember you are my friend also and I would be very sad if I pressed you into doing something you didn't like. So please tell me if I do so and not just do it for my sake. You are too important to me for me to have that." Lucy whispered softly to her sprite.

"My master..." Uttered Vergo as she looked back into the compassionate eyes of her summoner, before she smiled a truly rare soft smile "I dislike no task you request, for the sole reason it was you that wanted it. My only dislike is how long we will be separated my master"

Lucy smiled a smile of relief and gratitude "I thank you my sprite and I will make up for any discomfort you may have when we get back" Reluctantly the blonde removed her hand from under the Maiden's chin. The summoner gave another smile "Remember to enjoy yourself Vergo"

Vergo bowed "Understood"

"Good" Declared Lucy with satisfied with the celestial's acknowledgment of the order. She turned her attention to Mirajane that was blinking owlishly at her "Ready to go Mirajane?"

"S-sure" Mirejane, S-ranked Take Over magic user terrifying enough to earn the nickname 'The demon' in her younger days, stuttered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Makarov was sitting and doing paperwork while cursing all his children, aka the guild members, in particular Natsu who had again destroyed quite a lot of property for no apparent reason to deal with minor threats. Not even being paired with Lisanna on the missions seemed to help calm him down. At last Gray only striped instead of destroying stuff.

The guild master sighed a bit of that situation around Natsu, in particularly Lucy that had been left behind.

He was very happy his lost child had returned home that he cried rivers of tears, but seeing Lucy sad at being forgotten had hurt him. He wanted to help, but knew that helping would be seen as pity and wouldn't help anyone in the end.

There was rules to how he could help. Self imposed rules perhaps, but much more binding compared to what the mage council attempt to enforce. He had to be a hash father at times for anything to happen.

So he sat down to wait to see if Lucy would break and quit, or grow stronger in response to her new situation. The girl had so much ability to grow as a mage having all the needed ingredients. Strong magical power, sharp mind and her heart in the right place.

She just needed a bit of a push to stand on her own.

The old guild master felt immensely proud of the girl when she began to show steady improvement and began solo missions. Then she went over his expectations and improved with speed that seemed almost unnatural, a speed that further increased itself later after something must have happened.

Curios he researched it of course, and found that she had been overlooked to a job and had challenged the one that got it, and got her ass handed to her on a silver platter and humiliated easily.

Again that made the old guild master happy as if she had instead decided to do a mission above her ability to handle due to arrogance the end result would have likely been death for her.

He followed her job records and had initially been alarmed by how fast the difficulty increased as she took harder and harder jobs despite her increase in magical strength and control he could feel each time she was in the guild hall, but he also heard the words of praise from the clients for her way of dealing with situations.

And even if he get worried he do not involve himself in a jobs like that, it was one of his rules. And he keep to his own rules as he clearly showed when he refused to send people out to help Romeo's father Macao.

Make no mistake, he was very happy that Natsu had decided to help Romeo find his father. His rules are for himself after all, and he don't want to impose them on others. He value safety for all his guild members, but believe for people to grow as mages as well as a person they must find their own way regardless of the danger.

And Lucy had found her way if her successful mission record was anything to go by. It wasn't flawless, no mission record of Fairy tail truly are. The young blonde made her share of mistakes, but she learned from her mistakes and learned _fast!_

The girl had changed a lot since the break up of Team Natsu, and could proudly state it was for the better. He didn't know how she did it but the girl made the plain clothes she was wearing look sexy.

He grinned perversely at that. Man's clothing or not those clothes couldn't hide that body.

"Master! We have trouble! Big Trouble!." He heard someone yelling as footstep rapidly proceeded towards his office. Two people bust through the door as they apparently couldn't find the time to turn the door handle beforehand.

"What's wrong!" Demanded Makarov to know, before blinking at who that appeared before him in a hap. Macao and Wakaba starred back at him. "Did you anger you wife again Wakaba?"

"Ye-... NO. er... That doesn't involve you!" Yelled Wakaba embarrassed.

Macao smacked him over the back of the head "It isn't that that is trouble dimwit" Turning towards the tiny guild master now with pure panic written on his face "Master! We in big trouble! As in a gigantic problem!"

"And what is this gigantic problem if I may ask?" Inquired the gnome master already feeling the heavy sensation of horror in his gut. It was at least at the same level of when he heard about team Natsu forming.

"Mirajane just went on a job!" Yelled Wakaba in terror, remembering clearly being bullied by the young punk Mirajane before Lisanna's disappearance.

"We are afraid she will become Demon queen Mira again!" Cried Macao, also remembering how much a punk Mirajane was as a child as well as how aggressive she had been.

Makarov however remembered how much damage the rivalry between Erza and Mirajane had coursed on their surrounding. Forget Natsu and Gray's rivalry, it had nothing on the two female S-ranked past one.

They always had to outdo the other, be it missions to scale in power of attacks. Often resulting in mass broken people and property.

This was worse than team Natsu!

If Mirajane and Erza awakened their past rivalry the result with their current strength and magical power...

Makarov, the Master of Fairy Tail, fainted where he stood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a train we see Lucy sitting calmly reading her novel she had been unable to read in the guild hall because of her conscience, she was enjoying herself just fine absorbed in the book as she was.

Mirejane was sitting opposite her, softly giggling as she observed Lucy's relative new appearance. The blonde may not know it but she had become increasingly more known around her world as she began to do jobs for herself, and are very popular among men and woman alike.

'The lost noble' they called her. Known for her kindness and celestial sprites.

She could see why they called her the lost noble looking at her now. Even in those plain clothes she had someone gained an aura dignity and splendor she didn't got close to in her previous clothing. Mirajane could easily see it as Lucy sat posed while she read her book with her hair pulled back in a pony tail with a large tattered yellow bow made from seemly a random strip of cloth, making her aristocratic face fully visible to the world. She has the mechanisms for a noble.

And with her soft smiles and more serious look the world love it. Even in the short time she been going since she gained her that 'noble' aura of hers quite an official fan-base had gathered. Not nearly enough to be on pair with Mirajane's own, which was frankly huge, but still a lot of people had membership.

And with the pretty face come the tales of what she accomplished. She is famous for her magical protection shields that protected the innocent from harm and her commanding aura when she guide her sprites, together with her rumored ability when serous to make the stars themselves fall upon her enemies.

Leading to her other nick name. The one the mages referring her by.

'Starfall'

Mirajane giggled at the comparison between this new Lucy and the old one.

At the sound Lucy looked up from her book to see what was happening, only to find Mirajane giggle merrily over seemly nothing. She glance down at the book.

"Ah, sorry. I have been rude" Apologized embarrassed Lucy at the breach of common manners and packed away her book to read at the later time. A shame, she really like that book. It is still no excuse for being rude however.

"Don't go out of you way for my sake Lucy" Smiled Mirajane.

"Sorry, that is simply not in my nature. Besides it will be a joy to get to know you better, I missed our small talks and am sorry to have been busy these last months" Admitted Lucy smiling the soft smile that had become her trademark. A smile of utter inner serenity.

Against that smile Mirajane could not do anything to protest as Lucy focused her full attention on her. The Blonde woman's honey brown eyes seemed to gain a golden shine as the full wight of Lucy's caring personality was brought forth. Those eyes locked firmly on Mirajane.

Inwardly Mirajane's inner maiden cried out with tears 'When did Lucy get this intense?!'

XXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxx

The two reached the town where Lucy did her first mission with both having enjoyed each others company and had done a lot of small lighthearted talk.

"Henry" Lucy greeted the old man that she still hold regular contract with. "How has life been since I last seen you?"

"There has been no problems, yet" Answered the old man.

"Is this someone you know Lucy?" Asked Mirajane curiously observing their greetings.

"Yea, let me introduce" Admitted Lucy "Mirajane, this is Henry, a friend I made doing my first solo mission and has helped me a lot with understanding various things normally only age and experience could make you learn, really sort of like a grandfather. Henry, this is Mirajane, a really good friend from the guild and the newest member of my team, she is really strong."

"Ha? Is close friends and teammate what they call it nowadays?" Asked the old man rubbing his large beard suggestively.

Lucy blinked "Call what?"

The Blonde may have a lot more social ability then any members of her former team, but she had also grown up as a sheltered rich girl and has not had any contact with that kind of love.

Mirajane continued to smile cheerfully, basely acting in her default setting. "No no, please don't misunderstand. We are not lovers"

Lucy starred at Miraja uncomprehending for a moment, before blushed a deep red color while turning to glare at the old man.

"ha ha ha" Laughed Henry merrily "It was a jok-"(Roundhouse kick to the face)

Lucy huffed in anger at the pervert as she landed after kicking Henry unconscious. Before declaring to Mirajane. "I must have mistaken this old man for someone else, I don't know this thing and has never seen it before"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So the demon that was awakened the first time I was here haven't gone back to sleep as it usually do but continued to hunt restlessly, and it has slowly begun to move this way to hunt. It has already attacked a caravan that moved through the forest and the mage brought with for protection was helpless to stop it. Basely it attacks unconcernedly humans and animal alike for food." Surmised Lucy sitting cross legged on the floor together with Henry, a middle aged man that was the leader of the town and Mirajane.

The middle aged man that had opened his mouth in order to begin explaining the mission and it details closed it in shock.

Lucy blinked at the look before moving her shoulders in a universal understood gesture among the human race "Henry explained on the way here." She explained.

"Ah... yes. Hmm... Will you take the job?" Stuttered the man at the easy explanation.

Lucy nodded "Sure, but I have one question before we leave to slay the monster"

"What is it mage-san?" Asked the middle aged man nervously.

"How did this tiny village so far out of the way get enough money for the reward of this job?" Asked the blonde curios. It was really many Jewels on the reward line on the job paper. Relatively standard fare of such a high class mission, but it still a lot more money than this village could easily give away.

"Many of the other villages nearby that is also in danger also pinched in, and the government threw in some too as per our citizen rights." Answered Henry the question. "Basic of the law is, 'if we can't handle it we throw money at you'"

"I see" Nodded Lucy. Mirajane nodded also, who haven't ever wondered where the money in the small villages come from when they requested protection from powerful mages, since she haven't known beforehand that citizen rights existed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At the guild Natsu was just coming home from a solo job, or as solo it was with his cat Happy that he never takes missions without. He was thinking about Lucy, or rather why Lucy wasn't in the guild hall or in her home when he went to ask her to come with him on the job he just completed.

Lisanna was on a job with Wendy, a simple delivery job of a minor important letter. They seemed to bond fast after Lisanna had become used to being back on Earthland enough to interact with people alone. Natsu and her siblings were the most familiar to her and she had stayed around them as much as possible the first few months.

It has been a few months since he wanted to take his blonde friend with him on another mission, but every time he want to ask his friend had been away on a mission of her own. They have been missing each other in the guild, when one was there the other was not. Natsu had been there more often than Lucy as she took missions that took her all over Flore and sometimes beyond it's borders.

Natsu wasn't worried for Lucy, he knew his friend was strong and smart. But he did miss his friend. He didn't really know why but missions with Lucy was enjoyable, and more successful. It wasn't that Natsu failed that often on his missions, but he didn't do thinking or discretion. Often having problems finding out who to punch on some missions. Lucy was good at thinking.

Lisanna was good at thinking too, not as good as Lucy but still much smarter than Natsu himself, and funny and kind, like Lucy. They reminded him a bit of each other, except Lisanna hate books and avoid them when she can.

But Natsu doesn't think like that. Or he wasn't smart enough, but that is another debate. One is one person the other is another person.

He is the type that take the 'out of sight out of mind' a little more serious than most, and sadly he lost sight of Lucy for a few months. When Lisanna began to interact more with her guild and make more friends around the family Natsu found himself a bit bored and wanting a mission while Lisanna wanted to stay to bond with her siblings more. With Lisanna not occupying his thoughts with her presence, and fulfilling Lucy's usual role as company and smarter person well enough, his mind drifted to his team. Naturally he went off to ask if they wanted to take a mission together.

Only to not to be able to find Lucy.

Asking around, or fighting around demanding answers, he come to the knowledge that Lucy was going on solo missions. The flame boy wanted to rush to whatever location she was in to join in on the mission and whatever fun she was having, because why should she have all the fun and not share it with him?

Master Makarov talked the boy out of it, or punched it out of him as Natsu's case demanded for something to sink into his brain. Lecturing about things like pride and growth as a mage, which Natsu could understand somewhat. Not all of it but he got some of it.

So he didn't take after her. It was a good thing to since she was in the other end of the country at that particular time, and that would require transportation by the evil trains. Natsu spluttered at the idea of a long train ride. Torture that was.

He tried waiting for her to get back, but he quickly got bored of just sitting around and had to take a job to pass the time. He wanted to burn something and some thieves seemed as nice to burn as so much else. Which made him miss meeting Lucy as she come and took a new job.

It continued that way since. And now if Lucy wasn't there this time Natsu was going to crash into her mission anyway. And though he didn't really know it since he was kind of dense Erza and Gray would likely join him in that endeavor. They somehow also missed Lucy every time she was at the guild.

Natsu kicked the door in as he usually do when announcing his presence home, stepping inside he pulled in air to do his usual yell- And fell into a hole in the guild floor.

"AHHH?"

Laying for a second in stunned surprise at the bottom of the pit, he crawled up the man hole to see what had happened. He found the whole guild floor littered with holes, with a familiar face serving people drinks and food by popping up and down those holes.

A familiar Celestial sprite of Lucy's.

"Virgo?!"

"Yes, substitute master?" Appearing out the hole that Natsu crawled come out of after he fell in it.

Natsu ignore that title and focused on what he thought more important "Is Lugy here?" yelled/asked the Fire dragon slayer excited.

"No, master has gone on a mission half a day ago, with Mirajane I believe."

Natsu blinked surprised "Mira went on a mission?"

"With master" Agreed Virgo.

"What mission did they go on?" Asked Natsu, fast overcoming his surprise.

"I do not know the details substitute master, am I to be punished?" Asked the sprite bluntly, and perhaps a bit hopefully.

Natsu didn't notice "No that alright, I just ask mir- ah, she went on a mission with Ludgy. I demand the old man to tell me then!"

"Understood" Acknowledge Virgo the unvoiced dismissal, and went back to her job by disappearing back into a hole.

As Natsu disappeared to kick in the door to the guild master's office a loud ringing noise sounded in the guild hall. The Dragon slayer ignored it.

Virgo appeared from one of her holes with an old alarm clock. The sprite looked on it seriously. "8 hours working as barmaid as ordered by Master, Job completed"

Then she disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving the bar empty except for Kinana who is a new bar-girl, that had been a flying snake most of her life but can't remember it.

"Eh?" Muttered the Fairy tail members in shock as they stared at the hole littered guild hall, with no maid.

Another member of the guild walked in of the doors, only to fall in the self same hole as the one Natsu fell in.

"Kya!"

The guild members was only able to catch a glimpse of scarlet hair as it dis disappeared into darkness. Darkness that seemed to darken way more than naturally possible.

They all did whimper in fear as a murderous horrifying aura surfaced from the blackness of the pit.

" **Who Disfigured The Guild Hall?"**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy giggled a bit as a feeling of amusement hit her out of nowhere, confusing Mirajane that was walking besides her.

"Why are you laughing" Asked the woman curiously, wanting in on the joke. Lucy just giggled harder.

The S-class mage proofed out her cheeks again, making Lucy pook one of them again.

"Sorry Mira. I wasn't laughing at you. I just had a great feeling of amusement, though I don't know from where. I have an idea from where however."

"where?" Wanted Mirajane to know.

"It's... a secret" Answered Lucy giggling merrily at the old prank.

"muh!" Proofed up her cheeks again with just a tiny bit more air this time Mirajane glared at her companion, who just smiled at her as she leaned in closer.

"You really are adorable" Lucy stated before hugging Mirajane, swinging her around in the air much to her loud protests. The Blonde has gotten much more physical in her contact with others.

Lucy took the woman in her arm's helpless smile as a major victory, which she enjoyed in secret.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Old man!" Yelled Natsu as he kicked in the door with no regard for anyone that may be bothered by that fact. Normally the Master of the guild with have hit the fire brat for it, but as it was the old man was in far too deep despair to even notice someone had entered his office.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Yelled Natsu loudly.

The master of the guild yelled back, not looking around to see who was shouting and too out of it to recognize the voice. "Shut up! Can't you see we have a catastrophe in the making?!"

The little man's anger disappeared as soon as it come starred at at the wall in defeated despair, whispering to himself "It's the end of all, you see. We barely survived Mira and Erza's rivalry last time, you know. We only survived the first time by have Lisanna on Mira's team while she was her demonic self, you see. Now there is a chance it is going to flame of again now that Lucy took Mira with him on a mission, you know."

Natsu watched the despair strengthen in the old man with fascination, before blinking at the last sentence. "What mission?" he demanded to know.

"An A-ranked to the Mion region of Flore, there is a demon there that they went to slay, you see. I wonder if the mountain is still going to be standing afterward, you know" Makarov muttered, not seeing anything but wast planes of destruction and fire.

"Okay thanks Gramps!" Thanked Natsu for the information, now he just had to meet up with Happy that was searching Lucy apartment for clues if she wasn't there herself.

Makarov felt like someone merrily danced on his grave and he had invited them to do it himself. The feeling of imminent _cataclysm_ broke him out of his funk, only to find the office around him was totally empty of anyone.

"Why is my door kicked in?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This demon sure is a hungry one" Muttered Mirajane as she stared at the half eaten trees and even some big stones had been taken a giant sized mouthful out of.

The landscape was full of these holes. It looked disastrous and strange seeing mile after mile of ruined land, stone and trees endlessly continuing on as far as eye could see through the half eaten trees.

"Indeed. No wonder why the predator wildlife fled as fast they could from here." Agreed Lucy quietly looking close at one of the trees. It looked like it attempted to eat the wood, but couldn't do it fully. Like it was driven to eat, even if it didn't want to. "This demon didn't discriminate in what it ate."

"Looks like we are dealing with a Gluttony type Demon" Said Mirajane as she tensed up. There is four types of Glutton Demons. Two are summoning types, the more common type. Two are natural types, the rare type.

One summon type is a mindless hunter, often used as hunting dogs by their illegal demon summoning cults and one of the easiest to summon because as long as you are offering they are willing to eat it. They most commonly have huge amount of physical power.

As an abstract concept before they are summoned into a physical body they do not themselves have a default type of build they appear in, and it is up to the summoner to provide a body for the demon to inhabit, those being most often dogs, where after the demon's vessel begin to slightly shift form to what the summoner imagine a Gluttion Type demon would look like. This often being brutes.

Those are relatively easy to deal with. They was not summoned to be more than mindless cannon fodder.

The second summoning type is with a living human or otherwise something living intelligent used as the vessel for the demon which makes the demon much more powerful, and has as much intelligence and magic as the victim had before. Maybe more. This type of demon is much harder to keep under control as they have more than just raw desire for food, and can be very cunning. If kept from eating too often and the demon would likely attempt to eat the summoner. This type is able of using magic, which is often shift into a more demonically stained form. They are very rare as no man with a brain would attempt it.

Mirajanes Satan souls are from this type.

The first awareness type is of demons that somehow gain sentience and an awareness of self. They often manipulate humans and beast into doing their sin. Those depending on how many slaves of their sin can have very strong influence on those around it. They have all types of intelligence ranging from very stupid to very cunning. They typically stay anchored to a location, that then become 'cursed'. In rare cased it anchor itself to a person. They do not have a physical form.

That type require an exorcist to remove from mortal soil.

Then there is the last type. The first awareness type become powerful enough to take physical form of it's own. These are extremely powerful and often very intelligent. S-rank threats.

This is very, very bad. Zeref most noted ability is the one to evolve demons to this type regardless of it's former rank. And to this day some of the demons he created are still are alive and too powerful to be killed.

Most of them are sealed away, like the 'Mass murder curse' **Lullaby** was. Despite doing anything they could do to the thing none have been able to destroy the flute, it was not made of a substance that exist naturally on Earthland. Luckily at the time Fairy tail confronted the **Lullaby** demon it was extremely weak from not having feed on anything for over a century and that it can't activate it's 'Mass murder curse' without someone playing on the flute.

Even if the curse of Lullaby is most effective when the victims isn't aware of it being played the essential need for sleep is very difficult to ignore. Even if you know you won't wake up again.

Mirajane didn't inform Lucy of this information as she had already questioned her partner on the train and discover that Lucy had already done her research on the subject and already knew it. Therefor she was not surprised when Lucy said.

"We are most likely dealing with a summoned demon, human type."

Mirajane frowned a bit in slight worry, even if it was beast type this would be a dangerous demon. The demon was old, and since it was a gluttony demon it would get stronger as it eats. And this one has eaten a lot.

"Why do you think that, it could be a beast type?" Asked Mirajane quietly, she had dealt with the human type before, and it was not a pleasant experience. She almost died more than once, and she only survived because of the S-class mage that had taken the job with her. A man named Flain who also had Demon take-over magic. He had been her mentor in controlling her magic and teach her how to command the demonic energies. The man has retired now, and had wife and kids.

People usually don't stay in a guild for more than 20 years before they retire to a more quiet life with less danger. Being a guild mage is more a thing for the young.

The man wasn't here to save her now. But then again she wasn't S-class herself at that time in the past. But still the memories wasn't nice.

"Because it isn't eating mindlessly. It haven't eaten the tress even after it ate at them, a beast demon would not recognize something as tasting bad or just not edible. This one do. It has a small degree of reasoning" Answered Lucy as she continued to examine her surrounding. "But what I would like to know is if it is protecting something by the order of it's master, or if we are dealing with an awakened demon."

An awakened demon is a phenomenon that only happen in the human type demon where the human is able to 'awake' himself. Basely a demon that gain their human memories and to an extent their morals and are able to recognize what they do as a sin and is evil. Of course being awakened don't mean you aren't a demon anymore, and demons are creatures made by sin, and thus the 'Awakened' feel the overwhelming need to perform the sin he was possessed by. It require an overwhelming almost inhuman willpower to resist those cursed urges. In rare cases those people can have their demons exorcised by specialists.

The way this demon had not moved outside a circle of it's original sleeping location, only expending the ring as less and less food are available. It's like it's protection something, whatever this is an item or others from itself is anyone's guess.

Lucy's head snapped up before yelling "Dodge!" As she threw herself over Mirajane, pushing them out of the way of a _beam_ of dark magical power. Demonic magical power.

They rolled once before Lucy was on her feet again, facing the threat. Mirajane was up a half a second later, she could plainly feel what two year retirement had done to her awareness and reflexes. It wasn't good things.

She bite her lip in slight frustration. She was so slow!

Then she had to dodge another beam that made the ground they stood on explode with heat and small fires appeared outside of the blast zone.

"Those sick bastards!" Cursed Mirajane as she saw the demon. A black haired female child. About 7 in age, and clad in only in ragged pants that was unrecognizable from what they had originally been. They could however recognize the old and heavy looking metal collar together with similar ugly metal bracelets around wrist and ankles.

This child had been a slave. And in many ways still was.

Lucy frowned deeply. Could a child repel the controlling influences of manifested Sin or was she ordered to protect something here?

If the child was protecting something then what could that be? The demon had been her for centuries, before the village that hired them had been funded.

Still what made her wake up every fifty years only to fall to sleep again a little after if not herself? Magic?

Lucy looked into the demon's red eyes, and found only emptiness. Dull, flat and lifeless. Soulless. The demon felt devoid to her senses.

That was unnatural for demons. She dealt with demonic beasts before on her jobs, young ones, but demons nonetheless. Their eyes shone with greed and desire. Unholy so, but still brightly.

This empty demon wasn't normal. There was no sin or desire in those eyes.

However being empty did nothing to dismiss the power rolling off the small figure. It oozed of the kid thick like ink and filled the air with a smell of darkness. The air itself seemed darker in color by the mere proximity of this demon. Her presence was being pressed down upon them as if gravity had increased twice over all the while her dark aura seemed to attempt to invade their bodies.

Clearly the girl had hidden her demonic power from them while she had sneaked up on them. Because this kind of power is impossible to have missed.

But this with all this power why did this demon's power feel hallow and chained?

The answer was obvious. Despite being here for over two hundred years this demon was still bond to a master. One that shouldn't be alive after so long a time. This was a good thing. A bond demon wasn't as powerful as a free one would be because the summoner put limits on their growth in an attempt to keep them under their control easier.

This analyze only took half a second and already Lucy had to evade two dark spears seeking to impale her body like she was a butterfly in a collection.

A new darkness seemed to manifest and while Lucy rolled out of the way of yet another dark spear she saw Mirajane activate 'Satan soul' to transform herself into a demon and shoot what looked like a dark cannon shot at the demon girl.

The demon girl didn't even brother to move out of the way as shadows become way too solid than it had any right to be as a shadow as it rose from before her and condensed into pitch-black wall. The cannon shot from Mirajane impacted the wall, and that did absolutely nothing.

Lucy twisted her wrist and a golden key appeared in her hand. She would have to do her part too.

"Open gate of the lion, Leo!" And in a bright flash of light Loke appeared combat ready and serious. Lucy had already informed them she was going to fight a demon and they had keep an eye on the situation from the sprite world. They could ill effort to play around with a demon.

This proved true as the darkness wall pulsed as if alive and tentacles with months filled with sharp uncountable amount of teeth at the end bust out of it in a nauseating display. However Loke's light based magic blasted it apart before the monster come near them. Loke clad himself in his light to gain resistance to the darkness that seemed to want to consume him whole and went to bring it to a fist fight. His hands glowing a golden light as he tore apart the wall.

Only to find the demon girl had disappeared.

They could still feel her presence, but not her location. The unnatural darkness still filled the air with it's inky resistance. She was waiting for them to let their guard down before attacking.

Lucy used turned some of her magic into holy energy and used it to block the darkness from affecting or infecting her body, mind and magic. She had learned some light based spells, because it seemed like a fairy thing to do. Surprisingly she had a talent for such magic, and had already gained an affinity for it.

There are two ways for a person to have an affinity for something. One is to be born with it, the other is to work with it. The longer you work with something the more it will leave it's mark on you, thus the affinity.

And Lucy had worked much on light spells. In fact she was almost bathed in it nearly all her life since Celestial magic was a type of light magic. A subdivision of it but light nonetheless. Urano Metria too is light magic of sorts. Powerful too.

She dismissed Loke as he took too much power to keep on mortal plane for a longer period of time, and the lion sprite left without a word. Remaining vigilant as long as he was here.

Lucy twisted her hand twice. One twist and the golden key had disappeared, another make a silver key had appear in the empty hand.

"Open the gate to the Chisel, Cealum"

The metallic sphere with the gray halo appeared in a more discrete flash of light than Loke. As a sliver key having Cealum out required far less than a gold key, but was generally less powerful than the gold key ones. Even when the gold ones don't take their true forms their energy requirement was huge.

Cealum was much more manageable and adaptable.

"It was a preemptive strike" Muttered Mirajane as she walked over to Lucy. She was frowning a bit. "She wanted to get a read on our magic before attacking seriously and she got it"

"Yea, and we got a read on hers. Useless she was faking to trick us later" Answered Lucy, also frowning. The demon was intelligent and clearly able to plan ahead.

"That is a possibility" Agreed Mirajane. "Tell be did you feel it too? The hollowness of that demon?"

Lucy nodded "That was strange, it is like it has a demon's desire but no soul to feel them"

"That sounds strange, but also strangely fitting to what that felt like. But why have it been so... gluttonous then?" Wondered Mirajane as she stared once again at a half eaten tree.

"Likely for strength. While it may be able to resit the urge to eat it still get stronger by doing it. That would explain why every fifty years it appear and eat."

Mirajane raised an eyebrow "Are you suggesting the demon is still bound?"

Lucy nodded "It fits" She explained before grimacing "Whatever is keeping the demon under control seem to be failing however, since it didn't go back to sleep after a short while like it done the other times."

Mirajane grimaced too. That demon felt bad enough with it's power bond, if it got free...

"If that's the case our best bet would be to approach that which it is protecting, and fast. That should hopefully lure it forth so we can fight it properly. The cloak and dagger it seem to favor makes me nervous, especially against a shadow user of the demon variant. Particularly one as clear minded as this one. It will get much stronger at night" Spoke Mirajane from experience. Her teacher had favored such a demon soul for his take-over magic, and she knew how dangerous it could be.

She seen demon infected towns swallowed whole by darkness.

Lucy looked at the sky, it was afternoon. "Then we have to hurry, there is only so many hours in a day."

She looked at the metal sphere "Cealum, transport form."

With a flash Cealum's form twisted and turned until it had a rectangular form with a flat upper surface, while the underside had two half spheres on each side of the rectangle. It's gray halo was hovering an inch under those spheres. The whole thing was floating a bit above the earth.

Cealum had become a high tech flying skateboard/snowboard.

With a small jump Lucy was on it and Mirajane began floating herself. And with a bust of speed they both speed towards the center of the destruction where the trees was far more than half eaten. There was no way to make it before nightfall if they had walked.

Evading flying dark spears on the way like it was normal activity, not even bothering to slow down or search for the Demon girl. They knew they wouldn't be able to find her, and was unwilling to waste time trying. It was nice that the sky gave so much room to maneuver in so it was rather easy to avoid getting hit.

Of course there was the wide area spells that the demon attempted, but since they spawned over such a large area, and thus weaker, Lucy was easily able to shield them against them with her barrier magic. Mirajane just forced her way through.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After searching for longer then they liked, it was almost dark, they found an old castle behind an old illusion ward. One that frankly shouldn't still be up after so long. Wards require power to function, so what was it that powered this one?

It wasn't the demon since the ward was free of any demonic taint, which was understandable. People under a demonic ward tend to lose sanity the longer they are kept under it, no matter what kind of ward it was.

Still this ward felt like the demon girl, just without the demonic energies. It was very strange.

But Lucy was beginning to form a theory about it that was rather disturbing.

As expected us arriving at the castle we found the demon girl standing in front of the huge double doors leading inside, starring down at them as they landed in front of the stairs leading up to the doors.

Lucy found her ruby red eyes adorable.

Still the more time they wasted on this stare contest the closer it is getting to sunset, as it was it was getting close to set.

"Cealum, Fire!" As soon Lucy had jumped off the metallic sprite it had transformed into a cannon mode. A golden beam fired from the barrel towards the demon girl.

Once again the demon girl didn't move an inch as the dark wall rose yet again to protect her.

However this wasn't a normal magical shot.

Cealum didn't have the magical power of it's own to make such shots, in fact as a celestial sprite Cealum had one of the lowest magic upkeep. However it's function isn't something based on it's own power. That is based around getting magic power directly provided from it's summoner, then refine it and then release it.

It's the summoner that has to provide it with magical power to fire those shots, and even to fly. It's don't have that kind of power by itself. However it has many ways to release the energy it gets to provide different results.

One which is to fly, and another to fire those shots.

However Lucy has not provided normal magical power to Cealum, but rather magical power of a light nature. Which Cealum enhanced and lead into an unstable magic smelt down into one tiny location where the magic become near physical liquid, before the machine sprite spat out the volatile magic into a single bust of power.

With Lucy's light magic it become a potent burning spear of melted Light.

The shadowy wall didn't have a chance and was pierced like it wasn't even there. The demon showed no surprise in her blank face even as she clearly haven't expected it and had already begun to move in an attempt to evade but had no time to move out of the way and was hit square in the chest.

However the girl was able to protect herself, which showed in that she wasn't pierced clean through her body like it did her wall. Instead black energy oozed out of her as the girl was lifted off the ground and hit the double doors which blew open at the hash impact of the girl's back. Her form disappeared inside.

Mirajane was shocked. This was clearly different that what she had imagined Lucy to be capable of. She knew that Lucy had become stronger, but not this strong.

"Cealum, Sword Mode if you please" As Cealum transformed into it's rather big sword version Lucy looked over at Mirajane "Snap out of it. The real fight begins now."

In answer to that sentence a huge pillar of dark demonic energy erupted from just inside the doors. The power was far heavier then the one they had felt press down on them the first time the meet. Clearly the demon had survived the shot and was getting serious.

Lucy gripped Cealum's handle, which as soon as it made physical contract begun to glow a golden color as Cealum took some of her magic and channeled it out in the blade. She swung it behind herself and cut the shadowy spears attempting to bury themselves in her back from her from own shadow.

Mirajane back in the game had also put her hand behind her without even looking and fired a magical bullet from her hand that stopped the attempt to claim her life with a small explosion.

Lucy stepped closer to her and Mirajane instantly knew their roles. She was to focus on ranged attacks while Lucy would be defending until the demon would show itself. With that arrangement they began to move inside the castle.

Mirajane firing fast small bullets at any shadow that moved while Lucy took care of what came from their own shadows and what slipped past Mirajane.

As soon they went inside the door they was attacked from above where the girl attacked like a meteorite coated in black smoke. The power unlike what it tried to attack them with before, it was much stronger and Lucy could only barely hold it back with Cealum. Her magically enforced arm muscles protested against the their treatment.

The demon's chest area looked burned and bruised and the blonde was happy that she had manged to damage it before things had gotten serious. But even wounded like that didn't dismiss her physical strength as she felt her arms give just a little as the girl put in more power. You could almost not see her because of the dark power she was releasing carelessly.

Then Mirajane was there with a cannon shot of her own dark power. Something that the girl dodged mockingly easy and attacked again, but was again blocked by Lucy whose arm again protested.

The Demon soul take-over user decided to take things closer and moved in for melee combat, which she was doing okay in. She wasn't gaining ground, but she wasn't losing any. The duty of Lucy was to protect Mirajane's back from the countless shadows that attempted to poke bloody holes in it. Without having to defend herself from the shadows Mirajane could fully concentrate on hitting the girl in the face.

Cealum was a golden blur as the countless shadows attacked them and Lucy could feel herself tire quickly of the physical effort. It was not a good thing to be tiring as as as she was, it would leave her vulnerable soon.

She raised a barricade spell as she held her sprite in a pose. It's golden glow begin to brighten.

"Discharge!" She yelled as she made a wide swing. The result was a golden wave that vaporized all the darkness power that had gathered in the air as well as destroying the semi-physical shadows that had risen to act like monsters.

She had to see if she can do the same with light magic. A form for Light-make magic like the Ice-make that Gray do for his ice. That could be very useful.

Dismissing those thoughts she turned around and begun to help Mirajane hit the girl. However the surprise attack Lucy had planed to land had to be aborted as the demon didn't show any sign of surprise and kept attacking relentlessly, Mirajane however had been surprised at the bright flash and had hesitated just a bit which the demon attempted to take advantage of by gathering absurd amount of power in her hands and firing it. So Lucy had to block quite a blast of magical power from the girl for Mirajane.

However Overcharge had some drawbacks that made using it a risk. By discharging out all that power in a form not made to it like Cannon Mode it generate a lot of heat in the interior of the sprite, so as a safety measure the magical power absorbing ability is for a short amount of time turned off for Cealum's systems to cool down again.

Meaning it currently lost much of it's offensive and defensive capability.

Lucy threw op over a dozen shielding spells to defend herself from the blast but was still sent flying deeper inside the castle through more walls than she had time to count. The blonde girl landed hard against a wall, that held this time. She would then have landed on the floor as she slide down that wall, but in this case there was a massive hole in the floor right where she would have landed so she fell down in the basement instead.

"Lucy!" She heard Mirajane yelled in fear over her companion's safety.

Despite being in pain Lucy yelled back up the hole "I'm fine, Just worry about yourself!"

With a groan the blonde rose from the debris she had none too gentle on. She was alright was was not bleeding from anywhere, but her back was covered in ugly bruises. She had forced mostly on protecting her front, but has in that haste forgotten to cover her back in more than basic shielding.

"I'm getting some kind of armor after this" Decided Lucy. She eyed her clothes which was torn in many places from both the blast and the express tour through the castle. Cealum had been sent back to the sprite world since it was too damaged to continue to be of use. She sent a mental thanks for the help through it's key.

"Now... where am I?" She wondered as she looked around, her eyes went wide at what she saw "This is!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mirajane was enjoying herself, not that she would admit it to Lucy or any of her guild mates. It been awhile since she had a reason and the drive to punch someone's face in. it felt nice, punching someone again. Even if it looked like a child.

Two years her guilt had made her forget about this thrill of combat. Fearing the sensation that got her beloved little sister killed. The one that had dragged her, and in turn her younger brother and sister into the mage world to start with.

The thrill of conflict.

How she missed breathing in the chaotic enticing aroma of the battlefields.

That is not to say she didn't enjoy being the innocent barmaid and motherly figure to the younger mages in their guild. She enjoy that very much. Talking and gossiping, serving drinks and helping around. Those things wasn't bad at all.

But she done that for two years now, and while entertaining, since this if fairy tail we are talking about, she missed the violence of missions. Of letting lose this knot of aggression she had.

For two years she ignored it and ran from it with all her might. Buried it so deep she had all but forgotten about it. Until the Fantastical Festival and Freed's attempted murder of her brother. She stopped him, but since then she had been made very much aware of her own power and how much it wanted her to use it.

But she reined it in with an iron control that was required for Take-over magic less you wanted to lose yourself to whatever to was taking over. She may have been a little more confrontational in her dealings with the various annoyances she had, but that was all.

Then Lisanna was back from that other dimension she had been in, and she was not ashamed to admit to have cried joyfully at the sight of her running towards her and Elfman in the graveyard when they annually visited her grave. She took care of the grave itself every week without fail, but every year both she and her brother spent at lest an hour in front of that stone to remember their sins.

She was so happy her little sister wasn't dead, and she never wanted to let the girl out of her sight, much less go on a dangerous mission.

So when Natsu, a reckless moron, had all but kidnapped Lisanne in the dead of the night to bring her on a mission Mirajane truly wanted to murder the boy. She had been so angry she went into Demon Soul mode and terrorized half the guild in her worry.

And then she beat the boy half to death when he come back, only for him once again kidnap Lisanna as soon she turned her back. That boy didn't learn from pain.

But she got used to it, and eventually Lisanna herself refused Natsu in favor for helping her around the guild like she had been doing in Erolas, and interacting with a broader array of people. The girl had stuck up a friendship with Juliva, it seemed that they had been friends in the other world and she wanted to hold into a resemblance of her old friendships after spending some time with her childhood friend, and with her brother and sister.

Those two often go on missions together now.

Now with Lisanna back she had begun feeling restless behind her bar, the ball of aggression not able to be lashed as tightly. She simply lacked the strength the motivation of guilt gave her to do so. Something she thought she had hidden quite well from her fellow guild mates. Not as well as she could have in hindsight, but maybe that was because she may unconsciously had hoped someone would notice it and offer her a place on a job.

She never even unconsciously expected for Lucy Heartfilla to be the one to pick up on it. She had some daydreams about it, but in those it wasn't Lucy that invited her. Always Lisanne, Elfman or even her former archenemy Erza that invited her on a job.

Though that may have been because Lucy haven't been spending much time in the guild the last year. Since Lisanna come back and Lucy was left behind by Natsu.

That was kind of a shame. The two seemed to fit so well together even with how different they was. For awhile Mirajane had thought those two would get together as in a couple, but that never happened.

Now Lisanna was attracted to Natsu and she knew that Natsu reciprocate those feelings. It wasn't love, yet, but it had the ability to evolve into it with time.

Lucy and Natsu never seemed to be physically attracted to each other. It was if for them the other was genderless. They was perfectly able to be friends, but they couldn't love the other as something more than a brother or sister for some reason. Mirajane knew that, and was grateful for it. It wouldn't do for Lisanna, Natsu and Lucy to have their hearts crushed in a battle of love. They was all so innocent in such matters that it would have been incredibly cruel to set them against each other in ways that would leave at last one of them miserable.

And that person would most likely have been Lucy.

As much as Mirajane wanted for Lisanna and Natsu to be happily together she cared for Lucy too. She didn't want for the cheerful girl to lose her lovely smile.

So she was ever grateful for the fact they didn't love each more than friends.

Anyway she had noted Lucy's sadness at Natsu ignoring her after Lisanne come back, and to a decree she, Mirajane, was also guilty of this. With good reason. They had to catch up with their sister after two years of forceful separation.

That brought her own issues to the front, and her own happiness took priority. And the various issues of the guild become more distant while she was floating on a pink cloud at her sister's return.

At the moment she come back to normal, only happier, Lucy had already begun taking requests far away, which limited her ability to interact with the girl. The times she seen the blonde mage she seemed happier, yet at the same time lonelier. A bit of a contradiction, but true nonetheless.

Mirajane heard about her through others about how she did, or rather actively seeking information about how a person she regarded as a distant friend-sister.

Distant friend-sister being the relationship she had with Lucy. Not close enough for sisters, yet caring for her a bit more than a friend, but not talking outside of the guild. Not really involving herself in Lucy's private life, yet keeping herself informed. Giving advise, but not guide. Caring from a distance.

Lucy had reminded her of Lisanna after all with her cheerful behavior, though there was lots of differences too. However that not all because her similarity with Lisanna Mirajane cared for Lucy. Lucy is simple a person you couldn't help but care for with her bright smiles and cheerful personality. The girl was simply likeable as a person.

So when a guild member she liked began to do long distance missions, in particular escort missions for some reason, she investigated how she was doing. Most often by reading Master's paperwork that included a client report of either success or failure of the mission together with how well the client felt the mage did on the job.

And Lucy did very well for herself. Extremely well in fact.

She did her jobs with proficiency, which wasn't surprising for Mirajane as while Lucy's teammates strength overshadow hers she is still in the upper range of mages. Mirajane knew that Lucy many times doubted herself because of the large shadow of her teammates, and much as she tried to help the blonde, mere words couldn't help her confidence. It seemed doing solo missions helped her in that regard.

But still as much as Lucy improved Mirajene had never thought that it was the obvious blonde that saw through her need to get out and do something difference for a change, to get out of the bar and into the world. That girl had just seemed so much an air-headed person, always jumping thoughts without properly finishing thinking them.

But then again it seems that it is the air-heads are the ones that makes the most important observations at times.

Though Lucy certainly wasn't air-headed anymore, at last not much. She seemed more dense then an air-head.

Mirajane smirked as she thought about how Lucy was now. Without really thinking she moved out of the way of another dark spear coming from her opponent. She was still trying to smack the demon's face. Without noticing it she began to vocalize a low laughter more demonic than the entire existence her opponent was. It was easier to fight now, not because it was weakening but because she was awaking and becoming accustomed to her instincts.

This was just too damn fun!

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lucy was furious. She hit the wall besides her in anger making her hand bleed, making it hurt. Her eyes glared hard on what she was seeing. "Fuck!"

Not being able to look at the scene before her anymore for now the angry girl pulled out a golden key. Deciding to send help to her partner before she could confront this new height of human cruelty she seen.

"Open the Gate of the lion, Leo!"

Loke appeared in a flash of light, a worried look on his face. He seen many examples of human cruelty through the centuries he been alive. He was old and been to war, fought and killed on the order of whatever owner of his key at the time, but his master was still young and innocent in many ways.

Lucy knew that some humans are evil and some didn't care about limits and morals as long as it got them something, anything really, but she had not seen the result of their work. Lucy has seen dead bodies in her jobs though she has not killed, but she has not seen tortured ones before.

Without anything to say to comfort his owner he gave her a hug, the best thing he could think of.

Lucy leaned into the hug for a second, before separating herself from it reluctantly. "Loke, I need you to back up Mirajane. I need to work here on… this. Keep the demon busy"

Loke nodded, before stepping closer to give another quick hug "Remember you have us, and we will stand behind you every step of the way." Then he was gone, jumping out of the hole to reinforce the demonic barmaid against the demonic child.

With a sigh she turned almost unwillingly to look in the spacious room. Magical runes was caved into the floor in a large complicated circular patterns and figures. Many which was heavy duty barriers to protect what was within. Smaller rune circles was on the wall that emitted light.

What had Lucy so angry was what in the complicated runic circle in the middle. A giant cross-like structure filled with _Evil_ runes. On that thing was the skeleton of a child tightly chained. A child that had the height and build like the demon Loke and Mirajane was fighting.

There was a glowing crystal ball in the child skeleton's mouth, one that Lucy could tell had the same magic signature as the ward around this building that prevented people from finding it. A signature that she now knew would be the exact same as the demon without the demonic taint. They had ripped out the soul of the girl and put it into that crystal ball and tried it so it powered the wards, and likely also what was keeping the demon under control.

The skeleton's gave off heavy demonic energy, which was not to be confused with magic as they was two different things, pouring by the cross into the ground.

To do such to a child…

This was also why that the demon felt so dead, it didn't have a soul to feel the sin it represent. It also meant that they would not be able to defeat the demon above, as it was not real. The real demon was here, chained, and devouring magic from the crystal ball that contain the soul of the child.

Well the soul was now likely more than a few centuries old, but still.

Lucy would have to find a way through the barriers to the cross then somehow banishing the demon while saving the soul without accidentally setting the demon free, which could be very default as most likely the demon hesitant are tied to the soul. And if I crush the crystal ball to let the soul pass on while the demon still exist would result in that soul getting devoured by the demon before it can pass on to the afterlife, likewise if I remove the ball from the skeleton's mouth whatever is keep the soul in the crystal ball will likely fail and the demon would still eat the soul.

This could get tricky and time consuming.

Time which she didn't have.

'Good luck Mira, Loke, I just need time'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mira wasn't in that great a place. Granted she was having fun, but she was tiring far too quickly. She haven't poured magic into her body to move a the speeds this fight required for her to stay alive for far too long, and her muscles had degraded over that time.

That meant her unused muscles was hurting and her breath was labored.

The fact that the demon was relentless attacking from everywhere at once wasn't helping matters. It was worse than that really. The demon was clearly intellectual. The girl was aiming at places that required her to twist her body a lot, tiring her all that faster.

"Regulus Gatling Impact!" Declared a voice loudly making the room lighted up with some much needed light. The shadowy monsters disappeared as a golden light cashed into them.

"Loke!"

"Yes Mira?" Asked Loke with a lady killer smile in his now standard suit.

Mirajane almost rolled her eyes at his antics, but it took away most of her worry. Loke wouldn't act like this if Lucy had been badly hurt. She couldn't help but ask anyway.

"Is Lucy okay?"

"Yea, she is at the root of the problem. It wasn't pretty"

Mirajane frowned. As an S-ranked mage she knew much about how the darker side of humanity and the sins it kept doing time and time again for seemly no reason other than doing it for fun. She seen demon infested towns brought about by dark mages trying to showcase their power. Or just bandits plundering everything in their path. The after matches of such things wasn't pretty. Man, woman and child laying dead.

Of course that was if the town people wasn't taken off somewhere to be experimented on, a sadly too common fate.

As an S-rank she had seen these things aftermath. It is a moment that can make or break a mage. No one is unaffected whatever they want to admit it or not.

Loke gave a glance as his hand lighted up in golden colored magical power "There is a reason the demon looks like a kid"

Now Mirajane winced even as she fired a magical shot at some shadows. She already knew that a child had been sacrificed to bring forth the demon, but to have it confirmed with certainty meant that Lucy… had seen something that couldn't be unseen.

"The plan?" She asked.

"Buy time"

And so the battle was joined as the beauty (the child) meet the beast (Loke) and the demon (Mirajane) in an epic fight.


End file.
